Nakashima's Story
by nixcluster
Summary: What if Naruto had a friend growing up? One who was Smarter,more Rational, and taught Naruto the same... A calmer Smarter naruto... And what if this friend belonged to a clan that didn't get the chance to show it's power... T for now... Might be M later
1. Chapter 1

**_Hi guys... Nixcluster here upload my first Naruto story. Chapter 2 will be out some time soon._**

**_Enjoy!_**

**_A/N I dont own naruto..._**

_The sounds of small feet could be heard running along the street. The sounds coming from a young red haired boy, who was about the age of 5. The boy had a big smile on his face, and the sound of money could be heard jingling in his pocket.__The boy ran up the street, into a small store at the end. The sign on the store said, Kenta's Candy Store._

_"Mommy, Mommy can I have some candy?" The young boy asked with a huge grin on his face as he held out a small amount of change in both hands._

_A Red haired woman smiled down at the young boy, a smile on her face as well. "You've been helping your father out today haven't you?" She said, the smile not leaving her face._

_The young boy's smile only got wider as he giggled and held out the money in front of her._

_"Well then what would you like?" The red haired woman asked._

_The boy jumped up and down and pointed to a sweet on one of the shelves._

_"Now how did I know that is what you would pick," The woman said, her hands on her hips._

_The boy just laughed and put the money down on the counter, and waited impatiently for his mother._

_The red haired woman then picked up the sweet and handed to the boy._

_"Now run along and go play," The woman said as she pushed her son towards the door._

_"Okay thanks mommy!" The boy said as he went to the door. But he stopped when he heard the sounds of screaming and fighting._

_The red haired woman went over to the door and looked outside, only to see wounded men and women coming back from the forest._

_"Mommy," The boy said scared to death._

_The woman looked down at her son and she leaned down and placed her hands on his shoulders._

_"Honey, I want you to run straight home and lock yourself in your room. No matter what happens don't come out. Remember that your father and I love you very much," The woman said a serious tone in her voice._

_Tears were now starting to develop in the corner of the young boy's eyes, " Mommy what's going on?"_

_"Do as I say! GO!" She yelled._

_Tears now flew from the boy's face as he flew out the door and back down the road where he came from. Blood curdling screams and fighting could be heard behind the boy as he ran._

_He ran into the front door of his house and went into his room. He locked the door just as his mother had instructed._

_The boy grabbed his teddy bear off his bed and hid under it, unsure of what was going on._

_He then heard the entire roof of his home get blown off, the boy clutched his teddy bear as the roof came down around him, collapsing on top of him. The boy was struck by a piece of wood and was promptly knocked out._

_When the boy awoke he couldn't see a thing. There was wood stacked on top of him everywhere._

_The boy struggled and tried to move the piles of wood off the top of himself. It took a good 15 minutes, but the boy finally struggled out of the hole of where he was stuck._

_What the boy saw would haunt him for the rest of his life. The entire street was in ruin, his home had been completely destroyed, along with every other home in the street._

_The boy looked in horror as bloody bodies littered the street, some were civilians and some were ninja._

_"Mom!" He called out tears now flowing down his blackened face, as he desperately searched for his mother, but he heard nothing._

_"MOM!" The boy screamed out in a desperate hope, silence answering him again._

_The boy looked around, praying for his mother or father to come and take him away from the graveyard in front of him.__Instead a figure came in front of him he had yellow spikey hair. The boy just looked at the man with tears now streaming down his face._

_"I'm sorry," Was all the man said before promptly striking the boy, knocking him into unconsciousness._

A boy jolted awake from his sleep, sweat pouring down his face from his hair, as he took in his surroundings. He sighed to himself once he realized where he was.

"Hey you all right Nakashima," A spikey haired blonde boy called out from beside him.

Nakashima turned to see his best friend, Naruto Uzumaki, awake in the bed on the other side of the room.

"Yeah just a bad dream," Nakashima said, wiping some sweat from his forehead, throwing the blankets off him and standing.

"Same dream again?" Naruto asked, now lying back down with his head on the pillow.

"Yeah," Nakashima said, walking over to the drawer and getting out a change of clothes from his drawer.

Nakashima had shared his dreams with his blonde haired friend before, he had also seen the Hokage about it. And the Hokage had told him that it was dreams of his haunting past. He also told him to go see the Medic's to get some sleeping pills.

Usually the sleeping pills did the trick, and he would get a good night's sleep. But at least once or twice a week, the nightmare's came back to haunt him.

Nakashima grabbed his usual clothes for the day, and headed for the shower. He placed his clothes on the side on the sink, and turned on the hot water of the shower. He stepped out of his now sweaty pajamas and headed over and locked the door. He then stepped into the shower and let the hot water run over his body.

"Damn these dreams I'm having. I wish I just knew more about them," Nakashima thought to himself. The boy didn't really know why he was having these dreams. He had come to terms with the fact that his mother and father had been killed by an evil man named Orochimaru. He didn't know anything else apart from that.

Nakashima sighed, trying to forget about his horrible past, and remembered today was the day that the boy would get to graduate from the ninja academy. The thought put a much needed smile on the boy's face. He quickly washed his messy red hair in the shower, letting the shampoo he had previously applied earlier wash out, and then he stepped out of the shower. He quickly put on his clothes and straightened his hair up in the mirror

Nakashima then took a bit of time to look at his face, his red hair was now neatly combed over so that it looked neat, his deep blue eyes stared back at himself and he noticed that the small scar he had on the left side of his cheek was disappearing more each passing day. He wiped the sleep from the corner of his eyes and then put on his necklace.

Nakashima had what you would call a good luck charm. According to the Hokage the necklace was some sort of family heirloom, and all the old man could tell him that it was a symbol for his family. When he questioned more into it, he was simply told to "wait until you are older". He didn't really know what to make of it, but he did know that the necklace was something special to him.

After making sure the necklace was securely round his neck he unlocked the door to the bathroom and walked out, only to laugh at the sight of his friend

Naruto had fallen back asleep, he was hugging his pillow. In his sleep he was moaning the name "Sakura" to himself, also some drool from the corner of his mouth and was dripping onto the pillow he was holding.

Nakashima walked over to the couch, and picked up one of the pillow's. He then threw it at his friend, smacking him right in the face causing him to jolt awake.

"Huh, What, Who?" He said, looking around completely dazed earning a laugh from Nakashima.

"Wake up you lazy bastard or were going to be late," Nakashima said.

Naruto yawned and looked over at his alarm clock.

"Yeah, yeah I'm getting up," He said and slowly got up out of bed.

Nakashima went over to the cupboard next to his clothes drawer where his ninja gear was kept.  
His picked up his basic gear, shurkien ,Kunai, Smoke bombs and other things. He then grabbed his ninja pack off the desk and placed the weapons inside.

While Nakashima was doing this Naruto had finally gotten out of bed, and went over to the clothes drawer. Repeating the same process as his friend, he got his clothes from the drawer and headed for the shower.

Nakashima, who now had finished packing his gear went over to the front door and stepped outside, where he promptly leant against a wall and waited for his blonde friend.

After a few minuites of waiting, Naruto came out the door of the apartment.

"Ready to go?" Nakashima asked.

"Yeah let's do it," Naruto said. And both teens headed off towards the academy.

As the two teens walked through the street's Nakashima couldn't help but notice how busy the street's always were in the mornings. Men and women littered the streets, some shopping, some with small children and other's with husbands or wives. Shops and market's tried to sell their goods to the people. Entertainers were also commonly seen. Some were people with instruments, trying to make a bit of money. Others were putting on magic shows. All to earn a bit of money.

The two were getting various glares from people as they walked through the town. This of course was normal for the two teens, they didn't know why half the town hated them, but they did.

After a few more minutes of walking, they finally reached the academy.

"Naruto, Nakashima, hurry the hell up or you're gonna be late!" Iruka called out from the front door of the academy.

"We aren't late are we?" Nakashima quietly asked his friend.

"I don't think so," Naruto replied.

But neither questioned there teacher as the two quickly ran past him and into their classroom.

Nakashima took his usual seat in the top corner of the room, with Naruto beside him. He looked around at the classroom and sighed. The class was the same as any other day. Every girl save for one, was as close to the bottom corner as they possibly could be, The reason being the black haired "Emo" as Nakashima called him sitting in the corner. Sasuke Uchiha, top of the class, Nakashima was just behind him. And all the girls adored him. Of course he paid no attention to them, that only seemed to make things worse for the Uchiha.

Nakashima knew he was better than the Uchiha. But he really didn't want the drama of fangirls and being top of the class. So he under preformed. He made sure the Uchiha wasn't too far out of his reach, a point here and a point there kept Sasuke in the lead, but Nakashima knew damn well he could leave the Uchiha for dead if he wanted too.

The only girl that wasn't all over the Uchiha was a girl in a white jacket, who was staring over in his direction.

Nakashima knew damn well it wasn't him she was staring at. It was Naruto.

"Poor Hinata," Nakashima thought to himself.

Then Nakashima heard the door slide open and two girls walk into the room together.

The one on the left had pink hair. Nakashima would have found this weird, except he thought his own hair being red was completely weird. What stood out on this girl in particular was her forehead. He knew that she hated it, and she got a lot of ridicule over it, but apart from that she was a pretty girl.

However who stood out to Nakashima the most was the blonde haired girl on the right.

"Ino Yamanaka," Nakashima thought to himself, staring at the girl he had a major crush on.

Nakashima had for Ino what Naruto had for Sakura. He couldn't stop thinking about the girl.

"Why does she have to have that stupid crush on the Emo over there?" Nakashima thought.

That was the main reason he hated the Uchiha. Although he really knew he shouldn't. Sasuke didn't really do anything except for get good grades.

Nakashima watched as the two started bickering with the other girls about who would sit next to Sasuke.

"Alight class settle down," Iruka said walking into the room. This caused the girls to stop bickering and quickly take their seats.

"Remember class, today is the day for your final exam. The exam will consist of three main parts that will last over two days,"Iruka announced.

This surprised a lot of the people in the class. "Hey sensei I thought the graduation exam was just a simple test?" A student called out.

"Yes normally that would be the case, but I have just been told that the exam will be different. According to our statistics too many genin are going off underprepared and dying. So the decision was made for this year's graduate's to try out a new exam system," Iruka explained.

"So what's different about the exam now?" Nakashima asked.

"Well there isn't a difference as much as an addition. The first exam will be the main one you have all prepared for; we will take you off into a room and test your jutsu. But, you only need a two out of three score to pass. So for example if someone failed the jutsu exam they could make up the points in the last two exams," Iruka continued to explain.

Naruto instantly perked up at this, and Nakashima knew why. "He's got a good chance this year," he thought to himself.

"Okay so what are the two additions to the exam?" Sakura asked.

"Well after the first test you will all be taken to the Kohona forest, where you will undergo the survival part of the exam. You will have to survive one night in the forest with very limited supplies. That's all I can tell you for now," Iruka said.

Nakashima and Naruto looked at each other and smiled.

"Piece of cake man, we go out there for days at a time," Nakashima quietly said to his friend.

"Yeah I know right, Dattebayo!" Naruto said chuckling slightly.

"Hey you two up the back quiet down," Iruka yelled out startling the two teens.

"Sorry Iruka-sensei," The two said simultaneously.

"Alright the first part of the exam will begin now. When your name is called please proceed to the testing area. And by no means are you to discuss your grades until the exam is over," Iruka said.

Nakashima watched as students disappeared from the room one by one, all that was left after a few minutes was Nakashima, Naruto and Sasuke.

"Alright Sasuke Uchiha, you're up!" A woman in a teaching uniform called out from the door.

The black haired Uchiha stood up and walked out of the room, his hands in his pockets.

"Man they couldn't have changed this program at a better time, you can pass now man for sure," Nakashima quietly said to his friend.

"I know I won't be kept back because of my damn large chakra reserves," Naruto said.

Naruto and Nakashima had figured out quite early why Naruto couldn't preform some of the more technical jutsus because of the sheer amount of chakra that Naruto had, not to mention his chakra control was horrid.

Mind you Nakashima had a fair amount of chakra as well. Nowhere near as much as Naruto, but even Nakashima had found technical jutsu's like the clone jutsu difficult.

But Nakashima and Naruto improved their chakra control quite a lot. They did their own exercises to try and direct charka to certain parts of their body. After they did that they tried it in certain amounts. But after they had mastered the two, they never really knew what to use it on.

"Alright Naruto Uzumaki you're up next!" the woman called out.

"Good luck man," Nakashima said.

"See ya on the other side Dattebayo!" Naruto yelled out and headed through the door.

Nakashima sat in complete silence for another 5 minutes before the woman poked her head back through the door.

"Alright Nakashima, come on through," The woman called out.

Nakashima stood from his desk and headed out the door to the classroom.

He walked down a long passageway to the end and turned in the door on the left.

The room was a simple one, a desk at the front where Iruka and another teacher sat, he knew the other teacher as Mizuki. He didn't like the guy, because he always had a distaste for Naruto.

"Alright Nakashima we need to see you perform an acceptable Clone justu, a transformation jutsu, and another jutsu of your choice," Iruka said.

"Of my choice?" Nakashima asked.

"Oh of course you weren't here for that lesson, each student had to learn one of their own jutsu to pass this part of the exam. It gives out student's a bit of variety," Iruka said.

"Ah right-o," Nakashima said and smiled.

"Let's begin then with a clone jutsu," Iruka said.

Nakashima placed his hands together in the sign for a clone jutsu "Clone jutsu" he called out.

Two exact replicas of Nakashima appeared either side of him, causing him to smile.

"Very good, you've come a long way with that jutsu," Irkua said writing something down on the piece of paper.

"Alright let's do a transformation. I want you to transform into myself and Mizuki here" Iruka said.

Nakashima placed his hands together for the substitution jutsu but this time with no words spoken he turned into Iruka, then Mizuki.

"Wow impressive, you didn't need to even say anything," Iruka said writing something down on the piece of paper.

"Alright now we need one more Nakashima, and please nothing too dangerous." Iruka said.

Nakashima thought about it for a moment then decided on what jutsu he would perform.

He then remembered the jutsu that he had found be complete accident one day when messing around with Naruto.

"Erm this jutsu doesn't really have a name…I think I invented it.," Nakashima said.

Iruka and Mizuki watched as Nakashima formed three hand seals and then put his right finger on the side of his head.

"Mizuki come here and try and touch me," Nakashima said.

Mizuki looked at Iruka who just shrugged; Mizuki stood up and walked over to where Nakashima was standing. When Mizuki got about half way, with his left hand Nakashima threw his hand forward for an open palm strike. The result was that Mizuki flew backwards about 2 feet and came crashing down on the ground.

"Oh shit sorry I'm still learning it!" Nakashima said, taking his finger off the side of his head and walked over to Mizuki, offering him a hand.

"That jutsu, that's one of the telekinesis jutsu's of the Kenta clan. He shouldn't know any of them," Iruka said, looking on in shock.

"Nakashima where did you say you learnt that jutsu?" Iruka asked.

"Well when me and Naruto found out that we both had pretty big charka reserves, we started training in chakra control. Another thing we did was try out various hand signs. We literally just went in the order of a book out of the library, and then we messed around trying to combine them to see what would happen. With no luck of course but I stopped to scratch my head and pointed at something, which fell over with a massive crash." Nakashima said.

"He figured out one of his clan's jutsu on complete chance, Kami must have plans for this boy," Iruka thought.

"I thought it was a coincidence at first, so I repeated the combination of hand signs, and it happened again. Then I narrowed it down to the last three, and that's how I got the jutsu," Nakashima said scratching his head.

"Well... um Very good," Iruka said, marking down something else on a piece of paper, and making a mental note to go and see the Hokage about the jutsu.

"Alright, you will get your score tomorrow, for now please go out and join the rest of the students." Iruka said.

Nakashima nodded and headed out the door, leaving a surprised Iruka and a very dumbfounded Mizuki behind.

"Was that what I think it was?" Mizuki asked.

"Yeah, Telekinesis jutsu, this boy is definitely a Kenta," Iruka said.

"I thought they were wiped out when Orochimaru escaped," Mizuki said.

"Apparently not," Iruka said, looking out the window at the boy who now joined his friend Naruto.

Back with Nakashima

"Hey Nakashima I heard the crash, what happened?" Naruto asked. He and the rest of the students were looking at Nakashima and whispering things to each other. Well Naruto wasn't whispering he was talking to Nakashima.

"My signature," Nakashima said and smiled to his friend who just went into shock.

"No way, they passed you with that!" Naruto exclaimed, clearly shocked.

"Yeah, I knocked Mizuki on his ass with it," Nakashima said quietly, so only his friend could hear.

However Naruto decided not to be quiet, he started laughing loudly earning the attention of everyone in the group

"Keep it down ya loser," Nakashima said.

"Alright well, let's get this next exam done," Naruto said after calming himself down.

They went over and joined the group, and Iruka and Mizuki came out a few minutes later.

"Alright everyone listen up," Nakashima said.

The group stopped whispering and talking and all faced iruka.

"Alright now for the second part of the exam. This will be a survival exercise, you will have to stay out in the forest for one whole day. That is one part of the exam and will be 40% of your grade for this exercise," Iruka said.

"Alright easy enough," Nakashima thought to himself.

"The second part of the exam is an information gathering exam. To pass this part of the exam you must gather information about a certain event that is going to happen today. You will each get one clue. Some clue's your teammate's have, and others are hidden in the forest." Iruka said

"Why does this all sound so familiar?" Nakashima thought to himself.

"You may get this information any way you like, but no lethal force is to be used. If we see anyone trying to kill another person, you will be instantly failed and kicked out of the program for the rest of your life," Iruka said with a serious voice.

A few students looked a little nervous, not because of the test, but the way Iruka spoke.

"Hey Iruka, this is a modified Chunin exam isn't it?" Nakashima asked.

Iruka just smiled, "Very good Nakashima. Yes that is the way this program was designed." Iruka said  
"For the event you must try to get, a time, a place, a list of attendants and a location. For each piece of information you gather, you will get 15% on your score." Iruka said.

"So what do we do once we have all the information?" A student asked.

"If you get your information within the first day you can retire early and accept a 60% score, or at the end of the exam tomorrow you will all gather back here. There are chakra boundaries set, you must not go past them, and if you do you will be instantly disqualified." Iruka said.

Mizuki then lent over and whispered something to Iruka, who simply nodded.

"Mizuki has just reminded me of one other thing. Throughout the forest there are camera's placed so we can monitor performance, and for violence. If these cameras are damaged, and we will know, the culprit will be instantly disqualified and barred from the exam for a set period of time." Iruka said.

"Well they have to have some way of watching us," Nakashima thought.

"Alright when your name is called follow the exam leader here for your starting position," Iruka announced.

The group was slowly taken off just like before, and lead to different sides of the forest.

After a few minutes one again only Naruto and Nakashima remained.

"So this is going to be interesting," Naruto said.

"Yep," Nakashima said back.

After a few minutes the exam leader came back and called out for Nakashima.

He followed her for a few minutes until he got to a small part of the forest.

"Alright Nakashima a small flare will pop up and signal when you may start," She said leaving quickly.

"Alright then, all I gotta do is get the information and survive," Nakashima thought to himself.

He then waited patiently, until he saw the red flare fire up into the air, and then flew into the jungle at high speed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys.**

**Sorry for the slow update, I have been a little busy with family stuff.**

**Anyway here's Chapter 2 For you. Enjoy**

**Disclamer: I don't own Naruto. I wouldn't be so damn poor if i did.**

Nakashima was speeding through the thick forest at high speed, the wind rushing through his hair as he flew, after about ten minutes he stopped.

"All right this should be far enough," Nakashima thought to himself. He then sat on a nearby log and pulled out the clue he had in his pocket.

Time: 10pm.

You must find the list of attendants, the place, and the location.

Your clue is: Where the birds sleep.

Nakashima looked at the piece of paper with great interest.

"Where the birds sleep. Too easy," Nakashima thought.

Nakashima pulled a compass out of his pack, and faced north east, and then headed in that direction.

"Thank god Naruto and I know this forest so well," Nakashima thought to himself.

Nakashima and Naruto had used the forest as a playground and a hiding place from the villagers for years, so they knew the forest like the back of their hands.

After a few minutes, he saw an orange blur speed passed him.

"Naruto!" Nakashima called out, knowing who the blur was.

Naruto quickly stopped on a branch after hearing his friend and looked back.

"Damn we found each other quick," Nakashima said jumping up to where the boy was sitting.

"Hey Nakashima, what piece of info and clue did you get?" Naruto asked.

"I got a time and a clue telling me to go to where the birds sleep." Nakashima said.

"Sweet, I got a location and clue telling me to go to where the birds sleep," Naruto said.

The two quickly swapped information, and then took off for where the birds sleep.

"Man I can't believe they would give us such an easy clue," Naruto said.

"You gotta remember man, most people don't have the experience we do out here" Nakashima said.

Naruto nodded, "Yeah that's true."

Naruto and Nakashima kept going through the thick dense bush until they reached a small mountain.

"Well if this isn't where the birds sleep I don't know where is," Nakashima said, looking at the mountain in front of him.

"Yeah, the birds always come here to nest this time of year right?" Naruto asked.

"Yep, they always come here, that's why it's called the mountain of birds after all," Nakashima said.

"Then we should get up there and get this clue Dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Yeah let's do it," Nakashima said.

Naruto and Nakashima headed straight up the mountain until they came to the top of mountain. The mountain top was flat, and along its surface was hundreds of bird's nests, all completely filled with eggs and birds. Nakashima spied a large pole sticking out of the ground with a piece of paper tied to it.

"That's gotta be it," Nakashima said.

"Yeah let's go!" Naruto yelled out.

Naruto went to go over and get the note but Nakashima stopped him.

"You don't expect this to be straight forward do you?" Nakashima asked.

Naruto sighed looking slightly depressed, "Yeah your right."

"Cheer up, It won't be much they did, I mean they only set it up for genin after all," Nakashima said.

Nakashima looked at the terrain; it was mostly rocky, except for where the bird nests were. But it didn't appear to be all that challenging. He then looked at the species of birds on top of the mountain, to see if any would attack him if he tried to approach.

"Hey Nakashima, try using your jutsu to pull the note to us," Naruto said.

This caught Nakashima by surprise, "I've never tried that."

"Well now is a good as time as any right," Naruto said.

Nakashima just nodded. He then made three quick hand signs and put his index finger of his left hand on the side of his head, just below his temple. He then gently reached out with his palm, holding it flat, and then closed his hand. To his surprise, instead of just the note coming off, the entire pole that was in the ground came and smacked Nakashima in the face, knocking him over.

Instead of Naruto helping his friend up, he started laughing like a madman.

"How... the hell... did you ...manage... that?" Naruto asked in between laughing.

"Oh shut up, you know I don't know the strength of that jutsu," Nakashima grumbled, rubbing his forehead where the pole had hit him.

"Well anyway, we got the note," Naruto said, picking up the pole and looking at it. He then smiled.

"We got a list of attendants off this," Naruto said.

"Awesome one more to go then all we got to do is camp out," Nakashima smiled.

"Yeah, I'm going to pass this year I just know it Dattebayo!" Naruto said.

"What's the last clue say anyway?" Nakashima asked.

"It says 'where the three meet'," Naruto said.

"That's got to be where the three main rivers meet over in the west side of the forest," Nakashima said.

"Man this is too damn easy," Naruto said.

Nakashima then threw the post with the note over at where it was, it stuck in the ground just in front of where the note originally came from. The two then jumped off the mountain, and headed west.

"Are we just lucky, or have these notes all been really close together?" Naruto asked.

"Nah, remember as I said before most people don't know the forest like we do. For example for this clue we have right now, a normal person would have to figure out first what three things met. And if they did figure that part out, they would have to follow the river until they found the place where the three meet," Nakashima said.

"Hey while we are there, might as well catch some fish for tonight!" Naruto smiled wide.

"Yeah good point, one fish from the streams there is plenty enough," Nakashima said, remembering the sheer size of the fish where those three points met.

After another few minutes of travelling, the two arrived at their destination. The stream was actually quite an amazing sight, three separate river's met each other in the middle and formed a rather large lake like place, water could be heard from various parts of the lake running together. And in the middle of the lake was a small mudflat.

"Does this place have an official name?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah it does, but I don't remember it," Nakashima answered.

Nakashima then spied the next and hopefully the last clue for the two again on a post in the middle of the water. He did the same thing as last time and performed three quick hand signs and put his left index finger on his forehead. This time however Nakashima slowly raised his hand out, and closed it slowly. The force of the Jutsu still caused the pole to still come out of the ground, but this time it landed at Nakashima's feat.

"Well that worked better," Nakashima said picking up the note.

The note was the same as the last three: "Place: The Hokage Tower", next clue, "Where the water birds reside."

Nakashima smiled as now had a place and he also instantly knew where the next clue was.

"There's our place," Nakashima said smiling.

"Awesome now just camp out," Naruto said.

Nakashima threw the pole back and it stabbed into the ground where it came from. He pulled out a scroll from his backpack and unraveled it, bit the top of his thumb so blood flew from it and ran the now bloody thumb down the length of the scroll. With a slight poof of smoke, a long cylinder shaped tube appeared in Nakashima's hands, and with it a small box. Nakashima put the scroll back into his backpack, and then unscrewed the top of the cylinder, and pulled out a rather long Fly rod and reel from the tube.

"How can you be bothered with fly-fishing?" Naruto said shaking his head.

"As I have said a million times before, it's an art," Nakashima said, running the fishing line through the runners on the rod.

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto said, pulling out a similar scroll and doing the same as Nakashima did, but in the place of Nakashima's fly rod Naruto had a simple bait fishing setup.

"Be right back I'm going to go find some fresh bait," Naruto said leaving his rod and small tackle box sitting on the bank of the river.

Nakashima simply shrugged and went back to setting up his fishing rod. After he had finished running the line through all of the runners he placed the line in his hand, and went to his fishing box.

Nakashima then saw a grasshopper jump out into the water, he watched it for a few minutes before a fish came up from the water and grabbed it, leaving a big swirl behind it.

"Grasshopper it is," Nakashima said to himself.

He then went through the various flies (AN: Or lures for those people who don't know fly fishing) and selected one that looked like a grasshopper. He tied the fly on and stood up. Pulling out a bit of line from the reel he flicked the rod back and forward, letting out a bit of line with each flick, until the line flicked out dead straight, and floated on the top of the water.

Naruto then came back, with a small jar full of dirt. Nakashima assumed this to be worms or grubs.

"Anything?" Naruto asked.

"Nah just got on the water, but I did see a good sized one come up and grab a grasshopper before," Nakashima said.

As if in cue, a fish came up and grabbed Nakashima's Fly, taking it straight to the bottom.

"Nice one," Naruto said.

Nakashima let the fish run the line out from his reel, and upstream. After a few minutes of the fish running, Nakashima was able to gain some line back before the fish took off again.

"Little bastard's got some fight in him," Nakashima said, hanging onto the pulling rod, the line still running from it.

"Yeah ill flick downstream a bit, so you got plenty of room to play him," Naruto said grabbing his rod and box, and headed down steam a few feet.

Nakashima concentrated on getting some much needed line back; the fish had finally gotten tired and was coming in. He kept reeling the fish in until it got about 3 feet from the bank, then the fish took off again, taking out almost all the line Nakashima had just gotten back.

Out of the corner of his eye, Nakashima could see that Naruto had caught a fish and was playing the fish much like he was.

"This is what we get for taking light gear out here!" Nakashima yelled to his friend, who just laughed in response.

After a few more minutes, Nakashima gained back more line and landed his fish. It was about one and half feet long. He then quickly ended the fishes life with a kunai so it didn't suffer, and resealed his gear away.

"Hey come help me land this bastard would ya!" Naruto yelled out.

"Coming!" Nakashima yelled.

Nakashima headed over to where Naruto was, and landed the fish with his net. Much the same as Nakashima had, Naruto quickly ended the fish's life, and resealed his gear.

"We might as well camp by the river," Naruto said.

"Yeah might as well start making camp, it's getting late," Nakashima said looking up at the setting sun.  
As per their usual routine when they went out camping, Nakashima set up the tents while Naruto got firewood. It had taken a very long time to teach Naruto how to fish, and how to camp out, it was painful because Naruto had very little patience, and it was hard for him to learn how to tie knots and such.  
But once he learnt it, the two could go out camping with just a rod and a tent and live for days, usually when the village was after them, or when they just wanted to get away.

Nakashima quickly setup their tents and bedding, and cleared a spot for the fire. After all that was done, Nakashima decided to get to work on their food. Luckily he had learned how to cook at pretty much at a gourmet level thanks to an old chef that lived in the village. He looked past who Naruto and Nakashima were, and offered to teach them how to cook. Naruto didn't want to learn, but Nakashima jumped at the chance. After teaching him everything he knew, Nakashima just ended up helping out the old man's shop until he died of old age.

"May you rest in peace old man," Nakashima whispered as he went to work on the two fish. After about 10 minutes, Naruto had returned, and had gotten the fire started, and Nakashima had the two fish now on to cook.

"We got some pretty good fillets out of these. Don't think I'll be able to get through mine," Nakashima said, sitting by the fire watching the two fish sizzling away.

"For a chef you don't eat very much," Naruto said, also watching the fish sizzling away on the pan.

"We never do," Nakashima said, remembering the old man who taught him.

The two sat in silence until the fish had cooked, once it had both of them ate silently.

"Haven't lost your touch," Naruto commented, he had finished his fish rather quickly.

"No respect for a gourmet meal," Nakashima said, shaking his head smiling.

"As I said the MANY times the point has been brought up, I enjoyed it somuch I wanted to eat it quickly," Naruto said, a grin across his face.

"Yeah, yeah," Nakashima said waving his friend off.

Nakashima got though about half of his fish, and then wrapped the rest up in a watertight bag. He then tied a piece of sting to it, and threw it in the water so that it would stay cool.

The next few hours were uneventful. Naruto went to bed early like he always does, and Nakashima just sat up by the fire, watching the flames crackle and pop.

"Man it will be great to finally become a genin. Maybe I can get promoted, maybe I can get Ino to love me... maybe.." Nakashima thought, thinking about his dream. "And maybe I can hit the streams I have heard so much about in the west part of the Land of Fire. Man fly fishing those streams would be amazing."

Fly-fishing had always been a passion of his. He had watched an old man doing it one day at the lake near Kohona when he was very little. Nakashima, eager to learn what he was doing, went up to the man and asked just that. The man was about 60 and he smiled at Nakashima. He then proceeded to show him how to fly-fish, and he even gave Nakashima a try, which he completely screwed up of course. The old man just laughed and said, "Fly-Fishing is an art, save up your money and go out and buy a rod of your own. Learn the art and the reward will be great."

His thoughts were cut off however but a rustling in the bushes beside him. He quickly drew a kunai. Nakashima assumed it was a wild boar or something, smelling the cooking and coming looking for food.

However what came out through the bushes was no boar, but Ino Yamanaka.

"Oh... Um hey Nakashima," she said with a slight wave.

Nakashima could tell by the girl's appearance she had not done well on this test. She was cut and bruised head to toe and she looked like she was starving. But even in that state, she still looked absolutely beautiful. He swallowed a lump and braved up.

"Um hey Ino," Nakashima said unable to stop a slight blush from coming across his cheeks.

"Do you mind if I come and get warm for a bit?" Ino asked.

Nakashima shook his head and gestured for her to sit. Ino came and sat down in front of the fire, her hair was a complete mess but again to Nakashima she was still beautiful.

"Are you okay Ino?" Nakashima asked.

That was enough for Ino to start crying and putting her face on her knees.

"No, I'm not. I hate it out here! Why the hell did they surprise us with this damn exam for anyway? All of our other survival exercises I could always pack my food and my clothes and my makeup and I would be okay, but I have nothing. I don't even have a damn tent. I haven't eaten anything all day I'm starving. I'm cut and dirty from head to toe and I don't have any makeup," Ino said with her head on her knees crying.

Nakashima really couldn't say anything. All he could do was listen.

"Then I found Sasuke. I thought he would help me because he's amazing like that," Ino said and Nakashima just rolled his eyes, he knew what was coming.

"I asked him if he could give me some food, but he threw a kunai knife at me and told me to get lost and he wasn't going to give me his information. All I wanted was a little food," Ino said crying heavier now.

Nakashima then stood up and headed down to the river, Ino's eyes followed him. Nakashima pulled on the string that the cooked fish from earlier was tied to, and undid the rope.

"Here, I cooked this about three hours ago, Ill warm it up for you," Nakashima said. He put the cooked fish on the pan and quickly heated it up, it only took about a minute to heat. He then put it on a plate and handed it to Ino.

Ino stared for a second before quickly grabbing the plate and eating the food as fast as she could, but after a few bites she stopped and realized how good the food actually tasted.

"Did you cook this? It taste's amazing," Ino asked with her mouth full.

"Yeah, even out here a gourmet chef can cook," Nakashima answered smiling.

Ino went back to the food and finished the rest of it quite quickly.

"Thank you," she said handing the plate back to Nakashima.

"All right, now there's enough light from the fire to see the water, go down there and have a bath, there's no mud and it's rocky so you won't fall over on anything. Also because this is where the three rivers meet there is nothing dangerous in the water. I have a spare change of my clothes that will get you by. And go in there in your clothes, and come back up here, then I'll give you my clothes and look away so you can get changed okay," Nakashima said with a warm smile on his face.

Ino only nodded, still sniffling slightly from when she had been crying. She then stood and went over to the water and stepped in.

Ino hissed slightly at the cold water, but found it quite relaxing after a few seconds. She spent a few minutes washing herself, and then got out and came back to where Nakashima was and the warm fire. He then handed her a shirt of his, a pair of pants and a towel. He then turned his back from her.

Ino undressed by the fire, despite being quite frantic, she still blushed at the thought of undressing in front of a boy. But as soon as she dried herself and put the nice dry clothes on she felt better. Nakashima however instead of watching Ino he watched her shadow that extended from the fire, It took every ounce of willpower he had to stop from looking at his crush, and watching her shadow changing didn't help.

Ino who was now completely dressed sat back down by the fire. However she looked completely exhausted.

"Ino, go over in that tent there and go to sleep, I got another one for me," Nakashima said.

"Okay," Ino simply said.

She crawled over into the tent, and was asleep as soon as she hit the pillow. Nakashima just smiled and went over to her, and put the blanket over the top of the girl. Nakashima paused for a moment, and made sure the girl was asleep. He then quickly bent down and planted a small kiss on her cheek.

"Goodnight Ino," Nakashima whispered a blush now across his face as he watched his sleeping love.

He then pulled out a bedroll and laid it out against the fire. He had lied to her about having another tent, but he didn't want her to worry. And Nakashima had that much experience sleeping out in the open it didn't really faze him.

"I really hope she remembers that I helped her out with this. If I can become her friend, I have all the more chance of getting her to like me," Nakashima thought to himself.

Nakashima wished he could be over in that tent with her, cuddling with her. But he knew damn well if he did that what would happen when she woke up the next morning.

Realizing he had forgotten to hang Ino's wet clothes up, he got up and got them. He hung out all the clothes in front of the fire, blushing when things like her panties and bra had come up, but he dutifully hung them up.

He then went over and grabbed another piece of firewood and placed it in the middle then laid back down. With a yawn Nakashima laid back down and it didn't take long for him to fall asleep.


	3. Author Note

**Hey Guys.**

**Im very very sorry i haven't been able to update this story, I have 13 chapters actually finished, But there Not Beta'd, as my current Beta is busy with her own stories and such.**

**If someone want's to help me Beta this that would be great!, Otherwise i really don't have a set time i can upload. **

**A thousand apologies once again guys!**

**Nixcluster**


	4. Chapter 3

**Allright guys, I've decided to start uploading what i have thus far to this story. It has not been looked at by a beta, so there is bound to be errors, and the story probably won't be as good as it could have been.**

**If there are any Beta's out there that want to help me with the story, and you think you can help fix it all. Please please message me.**

**Anyways...On with the story:**

The sunlight shining through the tree's and onto Ino's face made her wake from her much needed sleep.

She yawned and stretched her arms, then took in her surroundings.

She then looked down and realised she was wearing Nakashima's clothes.  
"So all that did happen last night" Ino thought to herself.  
She remembered how Sasuke had thrown her away, and how nice Nakashima was to her.

She then got out of the tent to stretch her legs, and was shocked at what she saw.

All her clothes were hung up and dry, and nakashima was asleep on a bedroll beside the fire.

"h-he lied to me, he said he had another tent" Ino quietly said to herself.

"Yeah nakashima will do that" Naruto said, causing Ino to jump about 2 feet in the air.

"Naruto Jesus don't scare me like that." Ino yelled, her heart pounding from the shock causing Naruto to smile.

"So what are you doing here anyway" Naruto asked, already knowing the answer.

"Nakashima helped me, i had no food" Ino said, looking at the sleeping boy.

"Yeah, That's nakashima for ya." Naruto said  
"But i didn't know he'd sleep like that, i would have shared" Ino said, and then blushed realising what she had said.  
"Don't even worry about it, me and nakashima have spent weeks out here with just a bedroll." Naruto said as if it were common knowledge. He then looked up at the sun, and realised time.

"Right, we better get moving then" Naruto said and walked over to nakashima and nudged him with his foot.

"Time to go loser" Naruto said

Nakashima sat up and yawned, he then looked up at Ino.

"Hey Ino how did you sleep" Nakashima asked.

"Very well thank you, but why did you lie to me" Ino asked.

"I didn't want you to feel bad about taking my tent, you were a mess last night." Nakashima said.

Ino then did something that Nakashima or Naruto did not expect. Ino put her arms around nakashima and hugged him.

Nakashima simply hugged her back. but what Ino didn't see was the heavy blush nakashima had with his dream girl in his arms.

The two broke the hug, and nakashima then pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket, and handed it to Ino.

"What's this" Ino asked, taking the piece of paper.

"All the info from the exam" Nakashima said.

Ino looked at the piece of paper in shock, "They already have all this!" Ino thought to herself.

"As I said Me and Naruto know this forest backwards, the clues were a piece of cake for us to find, we were done about 3 hours after the exam started." Nakashima said.

Ino couldn't do anything but stare at the piece of paper in front of her, Nakashima had just given her a free pass to the exam.

"wh...why are you doing all this for me" She asked, staring into Nakashima's deep blue eyes.

Nakashima just smiled "I'm a nice guy" He said simply.

Ino simply wrapped her arms around Nakashima once more and hugged him, a lot tighter this time.

Nakashima simply hugged the girl back, once again with a heavy blush running across his face.

"Why do you keep hugging me" Nakashima asked. Not that he minded of course.

Ino simply sighed "I was at my worst last night, i have never been that low before, i was dirty, i was hungry, and i felt horrible. " she said looking down at the ground.

Nakashima did what he was best at, he listened.

"I thought Sasuke would be the one to save me, but he threw me out" Ino said angrily.

"yeah he's a jerk, wish more people would realise that." Naruto said but Nakashima gave him a look that said 'Shut the fuck up'

"When i was ready to give up and pass out,i found you, and you helped me, I was frantic and you calmed me down." Ino said, a smile across her face.

"Yeah this place can be pretty daunting if you don't know what you're doing." Nakashima said.

"Yeah.. Thank you nakashima, thank you for all of this" Ino said smiling the smile that made Nakashima's heart melt.

"Sorry to intrude but we gotta go" Naruto said, looking at the sun once more.

"Yeah he's right, we don't want to fail after all" Nakashima said.

"Ill catch up to you, ill put my clothes back on first" Ino said.

"Right, Ill see you later then Ino" Nakashima said, giving the girl a small wave and jumping off, naruto in tow.  
Ino simply sighed and walked over to where her clothes were hanging.  
Making sure nobody was around, Ino took down her clothes and got changed into them.

"Nakashima was so nice to me last night, and Sasuke was such a jerk." Ino thought to herself.

After she had finished changing, she headed off for the end of the exam.

**Back with Naruto and Nakashima  
**Naruto and nakashima were now jumping through the forest, headed to where Iruka told them to meet at the end of the exam.

"So when did Ino get here" Naruto asked,  
"Bout midnight last night, man she was a mess" Nakashima said.  
"Why did you give her your tent" Naruto asked.  
"Because im used to sleeping on a bedroll, we both are. Ino isnt." Nakashima said.

Naruto and Nakashima went the rest of the way in silence. Until they reached the place where the exam finished.

The only person there was Sasuke who might as well been handed the information.  
Nakashima walked over to a tree and lay under it. Naruto sat on the seat next to nakashima.

They waited in silence for about 20 Minutes, then the rest of the group came one by one.

The first was ino of course. She had her original clothes back on, and looked a lot better than she had the other day.

She looked over at Sasuke, who gave her a cold glare. Then over at nakashima who was quietly chatting to Naruto.

She then decided to go over to nakashima and Naruto.

"Hey ino, glad you found your way here" Nakashima said, giving the girl a wave as she came over.

"Thanks, Mind if i set next to you" Ino asked.

Nakashima fought back a blush "Sure" he said.

Ino then sat down next to nakashima, and looked up at the sky.

Sakura was the next to emerge from the forest, and she was shocked when she saw Ino sitting over next to Nakashima.

"What the" Sakura said quietly. But she simply shrugged and went over to Sasuke.

Ino looked over at Sakura hanging over Sasuke. But instead of feeling jealous like she usually did, she felt disgust.

"God am i like that" Ino thought to herself.  
She then looked over at nakashima who was asleep. Naruto was looking over at Sasuke with jealous eyes.  
"Nakashima and naruto are the unpopular losers. and there so nice to everyone. Sasuke is a complete jerk" Ino thought to herself.

Ino was broken out of her thoughts when she saw the rest of the group coming from the forest, some looking better than others.

Iruka and Mizuki arrived a few minutes later.  
"All right everyone, Well done for making it through the night. Please form a line and we will take what information you have gathered." Iruka called out.

Everyone lined up and handed Iruka there information, as each person did this mizuki marked their scores down.

after everyone was finished Mizuki handed Iruka the clipboard and he looked over it.

"All right, now for the third part of the exam. However before we start this, the people that have already failed both the jutsu and this exam will be told to leave." Iruka said.

He then called out a few names, and those people left.  
18 people were left after Iruka had finished calling out the names.

"I am actually quite shocked to see this little people left. It seems the changes to these exam's was a good idea." Iruka said, surprised that more of his students had not gone well.

"All right, the last exam will be a 1 on 1 duel, you can use any weapons but we don't want you to kill each other. This is a performance test, you don't have to win to pass." Iruka said.

Iruka then pulled out a small cloth bag.

"In this bag is a piece of paper with each of your names on it. i will pull out 2 at a time, and that is who you will be matched up against." Iruka said.

"Don't we even get a chance to rest" Sakura yelled out.

"No! There are no breaks in a real match, however you can drop out of you like." Iruka said.

"No If i give up ill never get the chance to be with sasuke" Sakura thought to herself.

"Allright now lets get started." Iruka said.

Iruka reached into the bag and pulled out two slips of paper, he unfolded each of them and looked at them.

"Allright Sasuke Uchiha and Nakashima Kenta, you two are up." Iruka called.

Sasuke and nakashima looked at each other, Sasuke gave nakashima a "Im better than you" look and walked towards the middle of the field.

Nakashima walked towards the centre before Naruto stopped him

"Wipe the floor with this asshole, I'm sick of his attitude" Naruto whispered in his ear.  
Nakashima just nodded and walked to the middle of the field.

"You might as well just give up,im an uchiha, you don't stand a chance against me" Sasuke said.

Naruto gritted his teeth, he hated the uchiha's attitude, but nakashima didn't say a thing, he simply got into his battle stance

"wipe the floor with this loser sasuke" Sakura yelled out, along with many other girls save for Hinata and Ino.

"Allright you may begin" Iruka said.

Nakashima did three quick hand signs and then waited.

Sasuke, unsure of what jutsu he was using waited.

"well are you coming or not" Nakashima said then yawned.  
Sasuke's anger got the better of him and he drew a kunai knife and charged at Nakashima.

When sasuke was about 3 feet from nakashima, Nakashima put his right index finger on his head and backhanded the air towards sasuke.

The result was that sasuke went flying backwards about 30 feet, spinning like he had been hit in the face.  
He crashed into a nearby try and was knocked out.

The girls that were now cheering for Sasuke were completely stunned. There Sasuke had lost.

"What the hell was that, That can't be allowed" Sakura yelled out and all the girls chimed in with her.

"SILENCE!" Iruka yelled, using his big head jutsu to silence the girls.  
"That jutsu was perfectly within the rules. The winner of this match is Nakashima." Iruka said.

The girls all glared at nakashima who walked back over to where naruto and ino were standing.

"Nice one man" Naruto said smiling. he then lay back down next to Ino.

"Allright next up is Ino and Sakura" Iruka said.

"Iruka-sensei i withdraw.. im too beat up to fight" Ino said.

"Right the winner by withdraw is Sakura" Iruka yelled

Sakura grinned, although she looked worse than what Ino did.

"Okay match three, Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyuga." Iruka yelled.

Hinata's eyes went wide with shock "I- iruka i w-w-withdraw" She said quietly.

"Allright Naruto is the winner by withdraw" Iruka said.

Naruto was a bit shocked and a bit upset that he didn't get to fight.

"Dude Hinata would have wiped the floor with you" Nakashima said standing up.

"Yeah your probably right." Naruto said smiling.

"Hey Iruka can we go" Nakashima yelled out.

"Yes if your match is finished you can leave" Iruka yelled.

Ino,Sakura,Nakashima and Naruto all got up and left.

"Why did you have to withdraw ino pig, i wanted to demolish you and show sasuke how amazing i was" Sakura yelled at Ino.

"Forehead i could have kicked your ass, but im just too damn tired" Ino said, rubbing her back.

"Yeah that exam was crazy" Naruto said.

"Says the people that got there damn info in three hours" Ino said smirking at Nakashima

Sakura's eyes went wide with shock "Three hours? It took me all day and night to get my info, and it even took sasuke 6 hours" Sakura yelled.

"Was a peice of cake, me and naruto here know that forest backwards" Nakashima said.

Naruto then stopped and smiled.

"what's up?" Nakashima said looking back at his friend.

"Hey nakashima we should celebrate tonight" Naruto said a smirk across his face.

Nakashima looked at his friend and then smirked as well "what a good idea" He said.

Ino and sakura looked at each other and shrugged. when they looked back Nakashima and Naruto were gone.

"what the.. Where the hell did they go" Ino asked.

"Beats me forehead" Ino said, looking at the spot where Nakashima was.

The two walked in silence until they got to the Yamanaka flower shop.

"Hey forehead, did you come across Sasuke in the exam in the forest" She questioned.

"Yes i did, i gave him the info i had, and he left. He didn't say anything but i knew that i helped him" Sakura said lovingly.  
"He threw a kunai knife at me" Ino said quietly.

"hah, that just means he loves me more than you ino-pig" Sakura said.  
"Well you can have him forehead! I don't want any part of that bastard anymore" Ino yelled and stormed off inside.

"Hey what's the matter dear" Inoichi said as his daughter stormed in the house.

"Nothing dad, i just need to think about some things, ill be in my room" Ino said and headed for her bedroom.

She closed the door of her room and layed down on her bed.

"Ugh i hate that Uchiha bastard, I was so damn lovesick over him that I'm not even a good ninja" Ino thought, remembering the night she had in the forest.  
IF she wasn't so determined to get Sasuke's attention, she probably would have been able to pass the 2nd part of the exam by herself, and not have to rely on Nakashima.

Her thoughts then went to nakashima.  
"If he hadn't given me food out there, id have been screwed. I would have to have given up." Ino thought.  
She decided she was going to spend more time with nakashima, and become his friend.

**Back with Naruto and nakashima**

Naruto and nakashima were walking along the path.. there destination... a sake store that sold bottles of sake.

"Same deal as always?" Naruto asked.  
"yep " Nakashima said.

It was quite easy for Naruto and nakashima to buy sake. they went to a shop where an old man worked, and just henged into someone older.

They always payed of course, they just were under age.

After buying a bottle of sake with no trouble they went back to Naruto and nakashima apartment.

"Why do we drink this stuff nakashima" Naruto asked, taking two shot glasses out of the cupboard.  
"Why not" nakashima said simply. earning a laugh from Naruto.

Nakashima and Naruto had started drinking about 3 years ago, they found a half empty bottle and drank it by accident. they got drunk of course and were taken to the hospital. but they did find out the stuff did take alot of the depression they had from being orphans, and complete outcasts from the village. so they did it a second time, and a third until they did it almost all the time.

As the night went on, naruto and nakashima drank more and more sake, untill after about two hours, they were completly drunk and couldnt even stand properly.

"Man, why does sakura love that asshole sasuke for" Naruto said in a drunken slur.

"I dunno man" Nakashima simply replied.

The thing with nakashima, you cant really tell if he is drunk or not. naruto on the other hand, slured, swore and did stupid things. Nakashima always had to keep him in line.

"You know what we should do, we should go. and burn his damn house down." Naruto said slurring again, having another shot of sake.

"You know damn well that's a bad idea" Nakashima said, a slight slur to his words as he talked.

"Yeah i know i know" Naruto said, then proceeded in staggering over to his bed and passing out.

Nakashima, who was still conscious, took the bottle of sake which now only had a small bit in the bottom and staggered outside to the front porch. he then sat down on the beach chair there and layed out his legs.  
He finished the rest of the bottle quickly, and looked out over the city.  
Despite being competly drunk, his vision was still quite good. He looked at how the city was even still busy at night, He then saw Ino walking along a street near his house.  
Because he was completly drunk, Nakashima decided to just watch her head into her house.

After watching the stars for a few more minutes, he then stood up and went inside.

Nakashima staggered over to his bed, and fell asleep rather quickly.

**The next day, with the Hokage and all the jounin who were taking on genin groups.**

"All right, Im now going to tell you which students you will be taking. but before i do, we need to figure out what we are going to do about the numbers we have. There are 10 graduates this year that have made the new exam." The hokage said.

"Well that's simple, just cut the extra one, the one with the lowest grade" A silver haired Jounin replied.

"That's the thing, these student's all scored over 80% or there exams this year. Its the best group of genin's we have ever had." The hokage said.  
He then handed the Jounin a set of papers each, which had all the scores of the nine graduates.

"Hmm, These scores are quite inpressive, but the one to drop if any is Naruto uzumaki, he failed the graduation exam three times, he only passed this year because of a withdrawal." the silver haired jounin said.

"Yes that may be true, but his skill level has been increasing and increasing over those years." The Hokage said.

"He failed the first exam, got 100% on 2nd, and the third he got a default 100%, he has the lowest score out of all the graduates." The silver haired jounin said once more before the Hokage got angry.

"Silence, we will not be dropping any of these genin from the program." The Hokage yelled.

"Then what do we do about these numbers dad" A black haired Jounin said.

"Well Asuma, i think our only option is to have one squad of four, and assign that team to kakashi." The hokage said.

"Huh why me" Kakashi said.

"Because we will need an exceptional jounin to handle a squad of four. that is why" The hokage said simply.  
Kakashi simply sighed. "Allright then who will be the squad of four" He asked.

"Well i belive the best idea is to have the two best scoring graduates with the two lowest scoring graduates." The hokage said.

"That could actually work, The genin of the year is nakashima Kenta and he only got it because Sasuke failed the 3rd exam." A black haired woman said.

"Yes, The two lowest candidates were Naruto uzumaki and sakura haruno." the Hokage said.

"Wait a sec i looked at Sakura's grades. she had excellent knowledge and has passed every written test we ever threw at her" Iruka said.

"Yes that may be true, she has exceptional grades when it comes to written tests, but her physical skill is below average." The hokage said.

"Nakashima and Naruto are friends right? I've seen them training together, those two will have an instant teamwork advantage." The black haired woman said.

"Yes kurenai, they are both orphans and even share the same birthday. they are roomates as well." The hokage said.

"What about the uchiha, would his skills be wasted on a team like that?" Asuma asked.

"No i don't think so, kakashi here requested him personally, and because of sakura and naruto the teams will be balanced." The Hokage said.

"Has Nakashima been told about his clan yet?" Kakashi asked.

"No, He will be told on his 13th birthday, which is quite soon. but how did you know about the boy kakashi?" The hokage said.

"I met him one day when he was training, he walked up to me and asked me, Very polietly mind you if there was any tips i could give him for his training. I gave him a few pointers. and as thanks, he offered to buy me lunch. He's a nice kid." Kakashi said.

"I see, so do we all agree on the teams" The hokage asked.

All of the jounin in the room nodded.

"Good, you will meet your teams today after lunch. you are all dismissed." The hokage said.

Everyone in the room left, leaving the hokage to do the mountains of paperwork in front of him.

**With Naruto and Nakashima**

"Uhh my damn head" Nakashima groaned, sitting up and holding his head.

He then looked on his beside drawer to see 2 aspirin pills and a glass of water.

Nakashima quickly took the pills and drank the water, and looked up to see Naruto sitting in the chair sharpening his ninja gear.

"Hey get up and go have a shower, we gotta go to our last day of school" He said carmly, not taking his eye's off the blade in front of him,

Nakashima groaned and sat up. He did his everyday routine of having a shower.

After he had his shower he quickly fixed his hair and got his ninja gear.

"Right lets go" Nakashima said.

Naruto nodded and the two left the apartment, and locked the door.

Nakashima and Naruto looked around as they were walking to school. Festival decorations, ride's and other things were being set up for the Kyuubi festival that was in a few days.  
To everyone else the Kyuubi festival was a day of celebration, For naruto and nakashima for the last 12 years has been hell. Every year the people in the village would find naruto and nakashima, and beat them to a bloody pulp.

Now slightly depressed, Naruto and nakashima hurried to the academy to get away from the town.

When they arrived, they saw most of the class was already there. Nakashima took his usual seat in the top back corner, and Naruto sat next to him.

A few minutes later Iruka walked into room. and everyone quietened down.

"Allright guys for the new genin in the class Congradulations, you went through alot of tough test's and alot of tough that is nothing compared to what awaits you as ninja. Right now your only genin, first level ninja, all the genin will be grouped into three man squads, with the exeption of one team which will be a squad of four. Each group of genin will be lead by a jounin, an elite level ninja." Iruka said.

"Squad's of three or four huh" Nakashima thought to himself.

"We set the teams up with a balance of strength and abilites." Iruka said.

"Hey just out of curiosity's sake, when do we get our exam results." Nakashima asked.

"Ah about that, Your results will be given to you after the squad names are announced, also the award for Genin of the year will be given out." Iruka said.

His questioned answered Nakashima sat back down.

"Allright i will now annouce the squads" Iruka said.

Nakashima simply tuned out after that. waiting for his name to be called, which did not take long.

"All right squad one, this will be the squad of four. Nakashima Kenta" Iruka said.

Nakashima raised his head, curious on who his teammates would be.

"Naruto uzumaki" Iruka called.

Naruto and nakashima smiled and high fived at each other.

"Sakura haruno." Iruka said.

"WHAT! BOTH OF THEM!" Sakura yelled but was quickly shushed by Iruka.

"And Sasuke Uchiha" Iruka said.

Naruto looked down in depression, nakashima chuckled slightly, Sakura cheered, earning her glares from most of the girls in the class.  
Sasuke didn't have any visual expression he didn't really care who his teammates were.

Naruto was about to stand up and complain, but nakashima stopped him.

"You know damn well why your with him" Nakashima said.

Naruto just sighed and leant back in his chair.

The only other squad nakashima was interested in, was the 2nd squad, which was Ino yamanaka, Shikamaru nara, and Choji Akamichi.

The third was Kiba inizuka, Shino aburame and Hinata Hyuga.

"Allright then that is all the squads, Now then, The genin of the year is Nakashima Kenta congratulations" Iruka said.

"WHAT!" Various girls screamed. even Sasuke was shocked at this.

"What do you mean im genin of the year, Didn't mr emo over there get it" Nakashima asked.

The nickname Nakashima used made Ino and naruto chuckle, while the rest of the group glared at nakashima.

"Sasuke failed the third exam, you got a perfect score on eveything, that earnt you a better score than his" Iruka said.

"Well i was trying to avoid that but whatever" Nakashima said.

"What do you mean you were trying to avoid it" Iruka asked.

Naruto just chuckled "Nakashima's been underperforming for years, he didn't want the hassle of being the best, but he got it anyway" He said.

"Nakashima is this true." Iruka asked."

"Yeah pretty much" Nakashima said.

"Your lying Sasuke is better than you, you... you just got lucky.. you jerk" Sakura screeched out.

"Yeah yeah whatever" Nakashima said, waving his new teammate off.

"Allright, the 10 graduates, go into the room next to this one after lunch to meet your jounin instructor's. As for the rest of you, see you after lunch, Dismissed." Iruka said and the class got up and left.

"Hey Naruto, wanna go get some ramen" Nakashima asked as he and naruto left the building.

"Yeah sure, as long as your paying." Naruto said earning a chuckle from nakashima.

"You..." A voice called from behind the two.

"Hmm" Nakashima turned back to see a fuming Uchiha.

"Oh hey if it isn't our new teammate, wanna come get some lunch with us" Nakashima offered.

"I wan't to fight you." Sasuke said.

A group of people, mostly Sasuke fan's gathered around, Sakura and ino were there too.

"I already fought you before i really can't be bothered" Nakashima said.

"Fight me now. Or admit that the uchiha's are the strongest." Sasuke said.

Nakashima just sighed. "Allright ill fight you on one condition" Nakashima said.

"What's that?" Sasuke asked.

"If i win Don't fucking ask me again" Nakashima said.

This caused Sasuke to glare at Nakashima "FIne" He spat out.

Girls all around cheered for sasuke, while nakashima took a simple stance

Nakashima did his usual three hand signs and waited.

"Do you really think im going to fall for that trick twice. You waited untill i charged in before you used it, so i know it has a range on it." Sasuke said, a smirk on his face.

"Sasuke! Your so cool!" Sakura and many other girls yelled out.

"Nah" Nakashima said and quickly put his left index finger to his head and backhanded with his right hand.

Sasuke, the same as the third exam, went flying backwards and crashed into a wall knocking himself out.

"Right lets go" Nakashima said, then turned and walked off with Naruto.

Sakura ran over to the knocked out Uchiha and glared daggers at the back of Nakashima's head.

"Does that jutsu even have a range" Naruto asked.

"No idea" nakashima said and naruto just laughed.

The two ended up at itchiraku's a few minuites later, and ordered some food.

"Wonder what our instructor's gonna be like" Nakashima said.

"I bet you he's an awesome ninja" Naruto said.

Nakashima just laughed at his friend, who gave him a confused look. "whats so funny" He asked.

"I was just wondering what sort of person you would have turned out as if we hadn't become friends." Nakashima said.

Naruto just laughed "Id probably be a completely over the top loser who rushes into everything and fucks up miserably" He said.

"I was thinking the same thing. It was hard enough teaching you how to tie damn knots" nakashima said laughing.

The two laughed for a few seconds at the memory of Naruto learning how to tie knots.

Nakashima then looked up and realised the time. "Hey we should probably head back, took us about 15 minutes to get here after all" He said

"Yeah lets go" Naruto said.

Nakashima payed for the two's food, then headed back towards the academy.

They arrived in the room to find only Sasuke and Sakura there.

"We late?" Nakashima asked.

"No" Sasuke said firmly.

"Ah good" Nakashima said and then took a chair near a table, Naruto doing much the same.

Sakura glared daggers at Naruto and nakashima, and Sasuke sat there calmly and thought to himself.

"That Nakashima kid is strong, I need to become stronger so i can defeat him" Sasuke thought.

"Ugh why do i have to be paired up with these two jerks, Naruto always tries to get in my way with Sasuke and Nakashima... He... He's just a jerk!" Sakura thought, unable to come to terms with the fact that her Sasuke was beaten.

The door then opened to the room and kakashi stepped through.

"Hey Kakashi how are you" Nakashima said, earning a confused look from the other three genin.

"Uh how is it that you know our sensei" Sakura asked.

"I saw him when i was out training one day, when i was pracising my clone jutsu i asked him for some pointers, when he did and i got better i bought him some ramen." Nakashima said.

"So that's who you got those tips from" Naruto said.

"Yeah that was about 2 years ago i think.. I saw him off and on after that and we just chatted, so were friends" Nakashima said.

"That's right, and now im your sensei. Now follow me to the roof" Kakashi said.

He then stood and walked out the door, with his new students in tow.

**Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd there we go! xD**

**So as i said, I uploaded this without it being checked over by anyone but the spellchecker, I really hope i haven't messed it up too much.**

**Please review with criticism,...Or don't.. Just enjoy the story :)**


	5. Chapter 4

**Here's Chapter 4..Hope you Enjoy**

Kakashi led his four new students to the roof of the Academy, and told them to sit on the steps.

"All right then why don't you introduce yourselves one at a time" Kakashi said, leaning up against the railing of the roof.

"Huh? Introduce ourselves?" Sakura asked.

"Things you like, things you hate, dreams for the future, hobbies stuff like that Sakura" Nakashima said, remembering back to when kakashi had asked him about it.

"Yeah things like that, Why don't we start with you on the right there" Kakashi said pointing towards Naruto.

"I'm Naruto uzumaki, I like instant ramen in a cup, and I really like the ramen at itchiraku's. I hate the 3 minutes you have to wait when you pour the ramen in the noodle cup. My hobbies are comparing ramen, Fishing, and camping outdoors. My future dream is to become the hokage, so the village respects me and treats me like I actually exist." Naruto said.

"He's grown up interestingly." Kakashi thought to himself. "all right next" He said.

"I sakura haruno.. what I like... I mean the person I like is... uh" Sakura said, sending a loving look towards Sasuke.

"my hobbies are uh." sakura said once more, earning a sigh from Nakashima.

"My dreams for the future are..." Sakura said and then squealed.

"And what do you hate" Kakashi asked.

"Those two!" She yelled pointing and Naruto and Nakashima.

"Why am I not surprised" Nakashima said and then chucked.

Naruto just shook his head and smiled as well.

"All right, you in the middle" Kakashi said.

"My name, is Sasuke Uchiha, I hate a lot of things, and I don't particularly like anything" Sasuke said, causing Sakura to gasp.

"What I have is not a dream, because I will make it a reality, im going to rebuild my clan, and destroy a certain someone.

"Well your mysterious aren't you" Nakashima said jokingly.

"Alright Nakashima your up" Kakashi said.

"Right as you know I'm Nakashima Kenta. I like the outdoors, I like nature, I like camping." Nakashima said.

"I like this moron over here." Nakashima said nudging Naruto with his elbow.

"As for my dislikes. Lovesick fan girls piss me off. But I hate people that look down on me and Naruto here" Nakashima said.

"And your hobbies then?" Kakashi asked, already knowing the answer.

"My hobbies are camping, fly fishing, cooking, being a ninja, and training." Nakashima said.

"And dreams for the future." Kakashi asked already knowing the answer once again.

"Well I have a couple really, One is to fish the eastern streams. but im planning to do that already. My main dream is to settle down with the girl I love and have a family. Someone for me to teach right from wrong ya know" Nakashima said.

"I see you haven't changed a bit" Kakashi said smiling.

"Probably never will" Nakashima said.

"Alright then, you all have your own idea's and your all unique, We will start our first mission tomorrow." Kakashi said.

"What sort of mission you got for us" Naruto asked.

"It's a task that the 5 of us will compete together" kakashi said.

"A survival exercise right" Nakashima asked, he knew where this was going.

"Uh.. yeah" Kakashi said.

"Hold on a sec, we just did a survival exercise yesterday, it almost killed half of us" Sakura cried out.

"Speak for yourself" Nakashima said.

"This exercise is not like your previous ones" Kakashi said.

"Why is that" Nakashima asked.

"This is a make it or break it pass,fail test. you have a 66 percent fail rate, and if you don't pass im sending you back to the academy." Kakashi said.

Nakashima just laughed. "Why am I not surprised." He said.

"What the? How is that fair" Naruto said, keeping his cool.

"I make the rules, Meet me at the designated training spot at 5am and bring your ninja gear. Oh and don't eat any breakfast, or you'll puke." Kakashi said.

Nakashima merely shrugged.

"alright your dismissed, Sleep well" He said and waved them off.

Naruto Sakura and Sasuke all left leaving Nakashima and kakashi standing there.

"I did say you could go" Kakashi said, knowing Nakashima was still there.

"Yeah I know, just wanted to know if you wanted to get some ramen, for old times sake." Nakashima said.

"I would but I still have to go over the paperwork for this new team so im out" Kakashi said then disappeared.

"Figures" Nakashima thought.

"Hey Nakashima!" Naruto called out.

Nakashima walked over to the railing and saw Naruto waving on the ground.

"What's up?!" Nakashima yelled out.

"Ramen Your Buying!" Naruto yelled out again.  
Nakashima just shook his head and jumped down to meet his friend.

"Alright lets go then" Nakashima said smiling to his friend.

The one place that didn't do anything special for the Kyuubi festival, was Itchraku ramen. And that's only because they knew how badly Nakashima and Naruto were treated when it was on.  
"Hey ayamican I get some miso ramen."Nakashima said.

"Sure Hun" Ayame said and went over to make two bowls of ramen.

"So any idea what this damn exam is gonna be like?" Naruto asked

"Well if I know kakashi it will be fucking hard. And there will be an important message behind it.

"what are you talking about" Naruto asked.

"That's just how kakashi works." Nakashima said.

"Whatever you reckon man" Naruto asked.

"Nah seriously, Kakashi is like that, ive been friends with him for about 3 years now." Nakashima said.

The two finished the rest of there ramen in silence, before Nakashima payed and they went home.

"You really going to skip eating breakfast tomorrow?" Nakashima asked.

"Nah, id rather throw up than be hungry" Naruto said.

The two then got changed and went to bed.

The next morning at 4:30 Nakashima alarm clock went off, waking the two up.

"Screw getting up this early ever again" Nakashima said rubbing his head.

"Come on lets get going" Naruto said.

Nakashima had a quick shower and headed out the door with Naruto.

They got to the designated training area before anyone else, and promptly sat down.

After a few minutes Sasuke arrived with sakura on his tail. Sakura gave Nakashima and Naruto a glare before she sat down next to Sasuke.

The team spent the next 3 hours in silence, until they heard footsteps coming from behind them.

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late, I got lost on the road to life" Kakashi said.

"Your full of shit sensei" Nakashima said laughing, while the other three genin glared daggers at Kakashi.

Kakashi then cleared his throat "All right, lets get started" He said, then walked over to a nearby stump and placed a large clock on it

"All right, its set for noon" Kakashi said pressing the button on top of the alarm clock. He then reached to the right side of his body and pulled 3 bells off his belt, he then held them up to show the group and clunked them together, causing the bell's to ring together.

"Your assignment is very simple, you just have to take these bells from me" Kakashi said

"And im guessing if we don't get them, we go without lunch right" Nakashima said, a smirk across his face, knowing what his sensei had planned.

"That's right" Kakashi said eye smiling.

Nakashima then heard two stomach's growling, those stomach's belonged to Sakura and Sasuke.

"Those idiot's actually listened to him" Nakashima thought to himself.

"Wait a minute.. there's four of us and only three bells?" Sakura asked.

"Well, that way at least one of you fails, goes without lunch and fails the test, that person gets sent back to the academy." Kakashi said once again eye smiling.

Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura all glared at Kakashi, None of them wanted to get sent back to the academy.

Then all three looked over at Nakashima who was just smiling.

"How can he be so calm.. Unless.. Yes he must know something we don't" Naruto thought.

Thanks to Nakashima, Naruto had a level head, and he also knew how Nakashima acted. Naruto decided to ask Nakashima later.

However Naruto's thought's were not running through the Uchiha's and the Haruno's minds.  
"How dare he smile at this, He thinks he's soo much better than my Sasuke" Sakura thought, sending a glare towards Nakashima.

"Ill get those bells before any of them, I'm an Uchiha after all" Sasuke thought to himself.

"You can use any weapons including shuriken, If you don't intend to kill me, you wont a have a hope at getting these bells" Kakashi said.

"Then let's get this over with why don't we." Nakashima said.

Kakashi just smiled at Nakashima's attitude.

"All right then. You may begin!" He called out and all four genin jumped away.

Nakashima jumped along through the forest of the training ground until he stopped on a branch to think.

"Right. This is a teamwork exercise.. that much is easy to figure out.. Now what I need to figure out is how to get the rest of my team to realise that.

His thoughts were soon broken by Naruto jumping on the log next to him

"Alright I saw that smirk you always get. what do you know that I don't." Naruto asked, a smirk on his own face.

"It's a teamwork exercise, The purpose.. or at least a part of it, is for us to realise it's a teamwork exercise and work together to get the bells." Nakashima said.

"But how does that work? there are only 3 bells" Naruto asked.

"Yeah that's an obstacle to overcome.. We have to put the team above ourselves..." Nakashima said.

"That Makes sense... How the hell are we going to convince the other's though." Naruto asked.

"Sakura is easy, go find her, and transform into Sasuke.. tell her to come find us and work with us." Nakashima said.

"And what are you going to do about Sasuke" Naruto asked.

"No clue.. meet me back here when you find her." Nakashima said and jumped off to find the Uchiha.

Naruto just shrugged, and headed off to find Sakura.  
He jumped through the forest, searching high and low for Sakura. After a few minutes of intense searching, he found her hiding under a bush.

"Alright how the hell am I going to do this" Naruto thought to himself.

He had to transform into Sasuke, convince Sakura and beat her back to the spot that Nakashima told them to meet.

"I know! Ill use a clone to transform into Sasuke." Naruto thought.

He quickly made a clone and had it turn into Sasuke. The two looked at each other and nodded. Naruto jumped off to head back to where Nakashima had told them to me while 'Sasuke' went over to Sakura.

"Sasuke!" Sakura shrieked out when she saw the Naruto clone.

"Sakura.. Listen to me. I figured out what this exercise is all about" Naruto said in Sasuke's voice.

"You did? Oh Sasuke your so cool!" Sakura said in a loving tone.

"This is a teamwork exercise. we need to work with the Dobe and that friend of his." Sasuke said.

"What! But Naruto always tries to get in the way of us, and Nakashima always tries to think his better than you." Sakura screeched.

Sasuke then put his hand up to Sakura's face "Trust me okay? Go and find Naruto and Nakashima Ill meet you there" Sasuke said.

Sakura shuddered at Sasuke's touch and simply nodded. She then headed off in search for Naruto and Nakashima.

"stupid Naruto and Nakashima.. I'm only doing this because Sasuke asked me too." Sakura thought as she jumped through the forest.

**With Nakashima**

Nakashima searched high and low for Sasuke for 20 minutes before he found him hiding in a nearby tree.

"Sasuke I need to talk to you" Nakashima said as he jumped up to Sasuke.

"I'm getting one of those bells, don't try and get in my way" Sasuke said.

"I don't care about that, Just hear me out okay" Nakashima said.

Sasuke decided to listen as Nakashima explained to him the real purpose behind the exam, Sasuke was a bit sceptical at first, thinking Nakashima was trying to find a way to get him out of the test, but after a few minutes what Nakashima had told him made sense. And as much as he hated to admit it... Nakashima was right.

"So you have a plan then" Sasuke, now convinced that Nakashima was telling the truth said.

"yeah, I got Naruto to go get Sakura.. all this is your idea according to her by the way. There's no way she would have listened to us so I had Naruto transform into you and tell her to meet at the spot Naruto's at." Nakashima said.

Sasuke just nodded and the two headed back to where Nakashima had told them to meet.

**Back with Sakura**

Sakura arrived at the spot that 'Sasuke' Had told her to come. She saw Naruto sitting on a tree waiting for them.

"Where's Sasuke?" Sakura asked, a hint of anger in her voice.

"He told me to come here and wait for him, and he was going to get Nakashima" Naruto said.

"Oh I see" Sakura said and then jumped up to an opposite limb to Naruto.

Naruto realising that Nakashima and Sasuke were a fair way off, Naruto decided to try and clear some of the hate that Sakura had towards him.

"Do you hate me?" Naruto asked.

The question took Sakura by surprise, but she glared at Naruto "Yes!" She yelled.

"Why?" Naruto asked.. He didn't actually see what he had done wrong to Sakura.

"You always try and get in the way of me and Sasuke, Your an immature brat and your annoying!" Sakura yelled out.

"I'm sorry" Naruto said looking down at his feet.

Again this took Sakura by surprise "Look if this is some way to try and get me away from Sasuke it isn't working okay" She yelled, angrier than before.

"No it's not that." Naruto said and then sighed. "I just don't like being hated... We are meant to be a team ya know, Sasuke thinks' I'm a loser.. You hate me... The only one that shows me any form of kindness is Nakashima, and that's only because I grew up with him." Naruto said. looking at his feet.

Sakura took a few seconds to process what Naruto had said. before he started talking again.

"I never had any parents.. They died when the Kyuubi attacked the village, for a very long time, everyone just hated me.. They sent me horrible glares and looked at me like I was some sort of demon or something. I..I wanted to be noticed." Naruto said, a small tear now forming in the corner of his eye.

Sakura decided to just listen, she actually felt bad for the blonde haired loser in front of her.

"So that's why I started acting out. I just wanted people to notice me, But then I met Nakashima, and he helped me out so much.. I actually had someone that cared for me." Naruto said, his eyes never leaving his feet.

"But why did you always try and get in the way of me and Sasuke" Sakura asked, her voice now more calm and more gentle.

"I didn't! All I did was try and make you feel better every time Sasuke rejected you. I hated seeing you hurt like that" Naruto said, staring straight into Sakura's eyes.

Sakura processed what Naruto had said, She thought back to all the times that Naruto had asked her out, and her eyes went wide with shock when she realised what Naruto was saying was true. He did just try and comfort her. and all he did was throw him away

"N-Naruto" Sakura said before Naruto stopped her.

"I don't expect us to have the relationship that Nakashima and I have. Me and him are like brother's after all. But can we at least be friends... I'll even try and help you to get Sasuke." Naruto said.

For the first time in his life, Sakura smiled at Naruto "Yes I would like to be your friend" She said.

Naruto instantly felt better and smiled back at the girl, a few seconds later Nakashima and Sasuke arrived.

"Right, I'm glad we are all here. It took about an hour to find us all so we need to get moving if we want to get those bells" Nakashima said.

"You have a plan?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah I do. Sasuke and Naruto here will be our main attacking force. Naruto has his shadow clones, and Sasuke has his fire style. so we can use that to our advantage. As well as our attacking force you guys are going to be a distraction as well." Nakashima said.

"Wait Shadow clones? Where the hell did you learn that?" Sakura asked.

"Well we figured out that Naruto can't to normal clones because he has such a high chakra level, so we went to ask the Hokage about it, and he gave Naruto the Shadow clone jutsu" Nakashima said

"Ah I see" Sakura said.

"Anyway like I said Naruto and Sasuke will be our attacking force" Nakashima said

Naruto and Sasuke nodded. they liked the idea of being able to attack.

"When your attacking, make sure at some point you throw a few kunai knives. make one land a few feet behind him. ,when you do ill use my jutsu to make that kunai knife fly at the bells and hopefully cut them." Nakashima said, he then turned to sakura.

"Sakura, the second you see those bells fall, I want you to direct all your chakra to your feet and run like hell, get those bells. your job is the most important." Nakashima said.

Sakura nodded, understanding what she had to do.

"Any objections?" Nakashima asked.

"What if we do if this all goes to shit" Naruto asked.

"If this fails. get the fuck out of there and meet back here. we will work something else out." Nakashima said.  
all four nodded and went to find kakashi.

They found him very close to where they had started. Nakashima nodded his head and Sasuke and Naruto jumped down to face there sensei.

"Oh what's this?" Kakashi said as he looked towards his two students.

Naruto quickly made 50 Shadow clones and went straight on the attack, Sasuke in tow. The Naruto clones tired to rush kakashi, a kunai knife in each of there hands. However with Naruto's poor Taijutsu style Kakashi was quickly able to defeat all of the clones.

Sasuke took out four Kunai knifes and threw them at kakashi. He caught two and the other two soared past him

"Well then, that was a good try, but your going to need a bit more force than that to get these bells." Kakashi said pulling out a book from his pouch.

Sasuke and Naruto both got into a fighting stance.  
"There working together. They understand the exercise, I wonder what they have planned" Kakashi thought to himself. whatever the result however this team had passed and Kakashi was impressed.

What happened next happened very quickly and surprised Kakashi even more, Out of nowhere a kunai knife had flown and cut the cord that the bells were attached too, and before he could even react, Sakura flew out of nowhere, grabbed the falling bells and skidded to a stop just past Kakashi.

"YES!" Nakashima yelled from where he was hiding, and jumped down to meet his team.

"Well, im impressed, your the first team that have ever gotten the bells from me" Kakashi said, smiling his signature eye smile. "But which one of you will go back to the academy" He asked.

"I don't mind going back, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura would make one hell of a team. Also I made a deal with Sasuke that if we got the bells, id give mine up." Nakashima said a small smile on his face.  
_**Flashback!**_  
Nakashima jumped through the forest, with Sasuke in tow.

"Hey,Nakashima, How do I know when or if we get these bells that you wont just take them for yourself." Sasuke asked.

"Because I know the purpose of the exercise, I want the team to get those bells. So... If we get them, and it comes down to one of us getting kicked out... Ill go..." Nakashima said.

"How do I know that your not lying." Sasuke said.

"I give you my word Sasuke..." Nakashima said. looking back at Sasuke.

Sasuke could tell that Nakashima was not lying, so he shrugged and went on following Nakashima  
_**Flashback end  
**_  
Sakura then handed Naruto and Sasuke a bell.  
Nakashima waited patiently to be dismissed.

"Well, I have to say I'm quite impressed with this team, you all figured out the true purpose of this exercise, and you worked together perfectly.. So Now there's just one thing left to do" Kakashi said.

Nakashima sighed and stood up, getting ready to leave.

"And that's to tell you that you all Pass" Kakashi said.

"WHAT!" Everyone shouted in unison.

"But I thought you said we had to have a bell to pass?" Nakashima asked. He actually thought that he needed one of the bells to pass.

"The purpose of the bells, was to see if that you could put your team above your individual selves, which you all did. You worked together despite the fact that when you got them, you would loose a team-mate." Kakashi said.

Nakashima now understanding what the true purpose of the test meant, smiled.

"Your the first team to ever figure this out. all the other's put themselves above the team, and had no hope. even if you hadn't got the bells, you would have passed. now tell me, who was the first to figure out that this was a teamwork exercise" Kakashi asked.

"Nakashima" Naruto and Sasuke said together, which shocked Sakura.

"But I thought... Sasuke figured it out" Sakura asked.

"Sorry Sakura we had to lie to you, I knew that you wouldn't listen to us, and you'd think we were trying to get rid of Sasuke. So I had Naruto transform into Sasuke and tell you. I'm sorry to have deceived you like that." Nakashima said and bowed his head at the girl.

Sakura.. Surprisingly wasn't angry. "I'm glad you did actually.." She said shocking the hell out of Naruto,Sasuke and Nakashima... even Kakashi was shocked at the girl.

"Your not angry" Naruto asked.

She shook her head "No, if you hadn't done that, we would have failed, also I wouldn't have made a new friend" Sakura said smiling at Naruto, who just smiled back.

Nakashima made a mental note to drill Naruto about what had happened with him and Sakura.

"Alright then, everyone gets there lunch, im sure you must be hungry after not having any breakfast." Kakashi said.

As if on cue Sasuke's and Sakura's stomach's growled, while Naruto and Nakashima just laughed.

"You two had breakfast didn't you" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah, we would rather throw up than go without food" Nakashima said

Kakashi just eye smiled and then Naruto got an idea.

"Sensei, how about instead, because were the first to ever pass, you treat us to a bowl of ramen" Naruto asked excitedly.

"Hmm, I don't see a problem with that. As long as you only have one bowl Naruto, i've heard about your eating habits." Kakashi said, causing Naruto and Nakashima to laugh.

"Ewe Ramen No thanks! I'm on a diet!" Sakura screeched out before he stomach growled. "Okay maybe just a little bit.." She said. causing everyone to laugh. even Sasuke gave a little chuckle

"Alright To Itchiraku's!" Naruto said leading the group onwards.

"Hey Nakashima can I talk to you." Sakura said quietly to Nakashima

"Yeah sure" Nakashima said.

Nakashima quickly told the group that they would catch up, and the three left. leaving Sakura and Naruto.

"I just want to say... I'm sorry" Sakura said, looking down at her feet.

"Sorry for what?" Nakashima asked, he really had no clue as to why the girl was apolgizng to him.

"For the way I treated you and Naruto, I know your not trying to be better than Sasuke, your just trying to be a good ninja." Sakura said.

"Don't worry about it Sakura, we're a team, if we let something as stupid as that break us up, what sort of team would we be" Nakashima said smiling.

Sakura simply smiled back and the two caught up to the group.

At Itchiraku's Naruto made sure to slow down his eating, making him look somewhat respectable. Sakura ended up having a bowl of ramen, and she even admitted to liking the stuff.

"This team is going to do great things kakashi" Nakashima said quietly to Kakashi.

Kakashi looked over at this new team, laughing together and eating, well Sasuke wasn't laughing he was being his usual self. But they were happy.

"You know what Nakashima, I agree with you." Kakashi said.

"Alright guys, I have to go finish off the paperwork for the new team, So im out, Report to the hokage's office and we will get our first mission." Kakashi said, and with a quick wave, was gone.

"Our first real mission, It will only be a D rank mission, so more or less just chores for a while" Nakashima said.

"Yeah.. Oh well" Naruto said. He was happy that his team was getting along.

After the ramen the team said there good-nights, and Nakashima and Naruto went home.

"This exercise of Kakashi's did wonders for our team" Nakashima said to Naruto as they walked home.

"Yeah your right, Sakura is being nicer, and even the Dobe is better" Naruto said.

The two arrived at there home, and Naruto promptly passed out on his bed.

Nakashima lay down on his bed, and took his necklace off.

"Our team has a chance, I thought we were doomed getting paired up with Sakura and Sasuke, But you know what... This team actually has a chance" Nakashima thought, and then quickly fell asleep.


End file.
